We hit the 5,000 profile mark on November 25, 2011. I just want to thank all those that have added their Mormon pioneer ancestors to the project. It is believed that this is one of the largest projects, in number of included profiles, on geni.com.

If you have Mormon pioneer ancestors or run across profiles of people living in Utah, Idaho, Nevada, in the 1850's and 1860's that you suspect might be Mormon Pioneers please post a link here so that this project will continue to grow. I'll verify that they were a pioneer and if so add them to the project.

There were approximately 70,000 Mormon pioneers and we've positively identified 5,000 with profiles on geni.com. Even as additional profiles will be continually added the focus for this project should now shift to adding source documentation to the profiles already included. A significant number of the pioneers died in Utah and there are death certificates available online for free here:

Find a pioneer's death certificate on family search. Do a save as and save the .jpg image to your computer. Use an image editing program to crop the death certificate and upload it to the profile of the pioneer. Upload it as a document and not an image. In the description of the document include the full web link of where the death certificate was downloaded from on familysearch.org. Now go to the birth, death and burial dates of the person and compare them to the death certificate. If they don't match correct the info and add the attached certificate as a source for the corresponding event.

Almost 2 years ago I mentioned that I was going through and doing a edited transcription of an out of print 1913 book called "Pioneers and Prominent Men of Utah" and I optimistically hoped that I'd be done in "several weeks".

Well it took a little bit longer than that (1 year and 11 months) but its now essentially completed. There ended up being 6,500 main biographies with info on 57,000 children and about 38,000 marriages.

I'll be posting a web page address for public access as soon as I decide which flavor of a creative commons license will be appropriate to ensure that it stays in the public domain.

In the meantime I'd love some feedback including some constructive criticism before I let it go public. If you'd like to review the work and give your feedback please contact me here on geni.

Hatte, you'll like this -- in the 1970s I worked with a woman in Salt Lake City whose Rosenbaum great grandfather converted from Judaism to Mormonism. She was fascinated by the story, and ended up converting back to Judaism.

Happy "Pioneer Day" to everyone. Current Mormon Pioneer project totals stand at 9,883 Mormon pioneers have been identified on geni. There is still a lot of of work to do on these projects. If you'd like to help please contact me.

A companion website www.pioneers.rstebbing.com is under development which documents 6,550 "Pioneers and Prominent Men of Utah" and their 55,000 children. That website, which is still very much in development, already includes 1,400+ links back to geni, 240 links to death certificates, 250 links to gravestone photos. The main focus of this project is to update and add sources to this 100 year old history book. Again if you would like to volunteer some time to help with it please contact me.